A 17-year-old Manual student was beaten and sexually assaulted in an alley near Manual High School on Monday afternoon.

The victim told police she was approached by two men in an alley about 3:50 p.m. Monday while walking home in the 2100 block of West Lincoln Avenue.

She was struck in the face and forced to the ground behind an unattached garage in the 2100 block of South Lincoln Avenue, where she was repeatedly struck and then sexually assaulted by one man as the other man watched, police said.

The man who lives at the house behind which the crime occurred said he was home at the time but didn’t hear or see anything because he was watching TV in the front room of his house. But shortly after the assault, the man, who asked that his name not be used, saw signs of a struggle behind his garage, he said.

“There was fresh snow on the ground, and you could see where someone had been wrestled down in the snow,” he said.

One suspect was described as a black male, approximately 5-foot-7 with an average build. He was wearing a black coat and a blue ski mask over his face and smelled as if he had been drinking alcohol, police said. The victim could not describe the other man, who she said did not participate in the assault.

But because the assault took place near Manual High School and Tyng Primary School shortly after they let out for the day, police urged parents to be mindful of their children’s whereabouts after school and for students to walk home in groups and stay on main streets and thoroughfares.

One couple who lives in the 2100 block of Lincoln said their two daughters, ages 13 and 14, walk to and from Trewynn Middle School every day. However, the couple, who asked that their names not be used, said they will drive their daughters from now on, given Monday’s incident, which happened just yards from their home.

“It scares me to death that this happened in broad daylight,” said the mother of the two girls. “They won’t be walking anywhere anymore.”

Except that a second suspect was involved, Monday’s attack was reminiscent of the sexual assault a year ago of a 16-year-old girl on her way to school.

Monterius Hinkle was convicted of that assault in November and sentenced to 26 years in prison. Hinkle came up behind his victim, put her in a choke hold and dragged her through an alley and a yard before taking her to his 2805 W. Malone St. house, where he sexually assaulted her.

Hinkle is alleged to have committed two other sexual assaults on young victims around West Malone Avenue, also just blocks away from Manual High School.

Anyone with information regarding Monday’s assault is urged to contact the Peoria Police Department at 673-4521 or Crime Stoppers at 673-9000.